


Dichotomy of Stars

by orphan_account



Series: Soul Affinity [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Also they are def not related, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, at least not in this, they actually meet in reality now, this one has a plot??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5614246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wants to look into his mind, see what he really wants, why he’s here. A part of her wants him to look her in the eyes and tell her that he is going to stay. Their minds are connected, their souls entwined, and their paths, molding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Previously know as: Cosmogyral Stars

 The pressure of his heels against the glossy floors creates a clicking noise that he finds satisfactory. He storms the bridge, mask in tact, his hood raised. Hux turns to him, looking him up and down with a harsh stare before returning to his original focus. One day, Kylo Ren swears, he’ll give Hux something to look at. The man won’t know what hit him.

 “We’ve received plans that the Resistance are traveling quickly to gather supplies from Lothal, they’re running low on just about everything so it seems,” the doors open again behind Ren as Captain Phasma enters, her clear voice echoing through the bridge.

 Hux sucks in his cheek, his eyes glaze over in thought, “then this is our chance to corner the traitorous dogs.”

 “If we position this spacecraft along the outer rim of Lothal, we can create a blockade to prevent their much needed supplies from ever getting back to them. When the Resistance drops out of hyperspace, we’ll take out their shields, which allows my fleet to attack from behind. They’ll be trapped and left to die where they stand,” the captain announces.

 Ren nods, “execute this plan, I will detail it to the Supreme Leader.” The Knight turns to leave the command center with Hux following him, promising he will not let Ren take all the credit of the victory.

 Lightspeed away and hours later, Rey sits in front of the fire, night has fallen over Yavin Four. Her eyes have fluttered close and she sits still, waiting to feel what the force is calling her to. Her master sits across from her, he’s he’s pushing the kindling around the flames with a small staff.

 When the First Order fires upon the Resistance from their positions over Lothal, the campfire roars higher. Rey’s eyelids snap open and she gasps. “They’re in trouble!” she announces. Luke continues poking at the base of the fire. “Don’t you sense it?” Skywalker’s padawan hisses.

“Continue your meditation exercise, Rey,” his tone is a warning.

 When she closes her eyes she sees Poe, the small amount of X-Wings the Resistance has on board their command ship are all deployed, they barely stand a chance against the First Order’s fleet. Poe evades the fire of many jet black TIE fighters, someone is yelling expletives behind him, Finn. The duo are paired up with each other, “just the old days,” Poe jokes.

“What old days?” Finn furrows his brow. A sharp laugh moves from the pilot’s throat to his gunner’s ears and Poe moves to barrell roll the starfighter. Finn yells in surprise.

 Rey feels everything happen, tracing the X-Wing paths within her palm. “I have to go help them,” she rises from her position, Luke shakes his head.

 “When I was training, I made the same mistake, Rey. I thought I could handle saving my friends, but that is when the seed of darkness was planted in my mind and left to grow,” her master’s stare softens at the memory.

 “I can’t leave them to die, master,” she begins to gather her food rations and other items into her pack.

 Luke sighs, “You are not ready to face Ren again.” Rey stops what she’s doing at looks back her master, surprised at the mention of his name. “I know you sense him, Rey. I know that you two experience a bond that even I cannot sever. You are not strong enough yet to take him in battle.”

 “I’ve done it once,” Rey moves her bag over her shoulder, ignoring everything else he says on the matter, “it can’t be that hard a second time.”

 The Jedi Master stands, calling after her as she hurries away from their campsite. “I’ll come right back!” Rey promises him before the darkness of the night and forest trees cover her completely.

 “Chewie!” the padawan yells at she boards the Falcon. The Wookie is asleep in the crew bunks and Rey wastes no time in waking him up. “The Resistance is in trouble, we have to go,” she runs back to the cockpit and readies for takeoff, appreciating that Chewie has traveled with her. Now in possession of the Falcon once again, the wookie stayed on the ship to make repairs, the old freighter had collected too much dust and the engines were a little shot. He and Artoo worked diligently while she trained.

 Chewbacca takes his place in the co-pilots chair and begins prepping for takeoff, Artoo lets out a small questioning chip. “We’re setting course for Lothal, Artoo,” Rey answers his question. Chewie lets out a whine at her response.  “I know, I know, but we’ll only be there for a little bit,” she reasons.

 Luke watches from his place at their, now his, campsite as the all too recognizable Corellian freighter exits the system.

 Rey pushes the ship into hyperspace, she’s racing for her friends’ lives and she can’t afford to lose. The padawan gives a short praise to the ship for being so fast. When the freighter drops out of lightspeed, Captain Phasma’s fleet is beginning their attack.

 Chewie roars as the pilot practices evasive maneuvers. “Get to the gunning chair! I’m going to try and reach Poe,” Rey picks up her comlink and dials to the Resistance’s channel. “Black Leader, come in Black leader, this is Rey on the Falcon, Poe, come in,” she calls out.

“Rey?” Finn’s voice breaks the static.

“Finn! What’s going on, are you okay?”

“We’re fine! What’re you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Skywalker?”

 Rey flies over Phasma’s fleet and Chewie shoots two of them down. “I sensed you were in trouble and-”

“Rey!” Poe interrupts, “the First Order has established a blockade to the front of our forces and a wave of TIE fighters at our backs. And there’s one I can’t shake off my tail.”

“I can help with that,” Rey grits her teeth and she aligns the ship over Poe and Finn’s attacker. The ship goes down effortlessly.

 Back on the bridge of the First Order’s blockade, Kylo Ren feels a new ship fly into the atmosphere. It’s the Falcon, he knows immediately. Ren tugs at her, using their connection to follow her signature. “I’m boarding their command ship,” the Knight announces, turning on his heels.  

“I don’t remember that being a part of the plan we gave to the Great Leader,” Hux taunts.

“The girl Snoke wants is here, he would be most pleased if we were able to deliver her,” Kylo Ren lifts a hand to close the doors behind him.

 With the distraction of the battle behind him, the dark apprentice’s escort isn’t noticed until it is landing in the Resistance’s hangar.

 “Rey!” Poe’s voice travels through her communicator, “we’ve got new problems. A command shuttle has stormed the hangar, seems like our old buddy is on board.”

 Images flicker behind her eyes at the mention of his name, his skin exposed to her, the hut made of sand, the sparks in his eyes, snow against her back. “Leave that to me,” her pulse begins to quicken at the thought of seeing him again.

 The stormtroopers accompanying him raise their guns and immediately blast everything and everyone in sight upon docking. Kylo Ren walks past it all, waiting. He closes his eyes and pulls harder at her, something she won’t be able to deny. The Knight clenches his fists at the memory of who he is about to battle. He hasn’t seen her, here, physically, in months. She’s danced around his mind and his thoughts since their last meeting a couple weeks ago, her lips always ghosting over his.

 He’s yanking at their connection, like a child grabbing its toy from another. Rey rolls her eyes and wants to tell him to calm down.

 When the Falcon lands and she runs out, he isn’t prepared for it. Rey is frozen where she stands when she sees him. It’s the first time she’s seen him with his mask on in ages. Here he stands, Kylo Ren, in all his glory.

 Rey wastes no time after she remembers why she’s here, pulling her saber from her belt and charging towards him. The Knight of Ren follows in suit, his unfinished and temperamental blade swinging through the air as he challenges her.

 In a twisted sense, he’s proud of her for meeting his first blow. Rey grits her teeth and swings at his waist, he counters. Kylo spins his blade with one hand before pushing it towards the top of her head. Rey ducks and rolls her eyes, he’s barely even trying to actually fight her. Silence has fallen over the two warriors as their lightsabers tap each other, one rolling around the other and vice versa.

 The Knight pushes Rey, subtly moving her away from the hangar into a more secluded area. Trying to keep her footing, Rey steps backwards into the hall, their blades still twirling around their bodies. Ren lifts a hand and a door behind his opponent flies open. The padawan takes her saber in both hands and slings it close to his face, Kylo Ren holds his blade likewise and brings it down on hers, they’re so close.

“Still hiding behind a mask,” Rey breaks the muteness between them, bitterness dripping in between words.

 “Still sloppy with your techniques,” his voice modulator twisting his tone into something she barely recognizes. She presses hard into his saber, balancing all her weight against him.

The Knight of Ren pushes his hand out in the air, breaking their contact and she goes flying into the room behind her. Ren follows, the door shutting firmly behind them.

 They’re alone, the thought blinds her. She’s alone with him, the man who doesn’t ever seem to leave her alone. Rey keeps a reasonable distance from him, her lightsaber still in hand, she’s still ready to attack.

 He stands still, sounds of instability and static flying from his saber. Ben doesn’t say anything as his mask decompresses and he raises his arm to take the helmet from his head.

“Why’re you here?” she hisses.

“Just following orders,” his voice is music to her ears, “perhaps I came to see you,” Ben smirks.

 Rey fights to stand passive, still ready to defend herself, to attack. He can’t get the best of her just because of the effect his words have over her, “I recall you not wanting to see me again.”

 Her words sting. Ben extinguishes his saber and it returns to its place on his belt, hidden by his black robes. When they last met, she had rejected him, rejected his cause, rejected the idea of them. Being in a room with her now, alone, he aches for her.

 Kylo Ren feels his heart burning with passion for seeing her, “I’m taking you with me this time,” he warns.

“Not on your life,” Rey bites her lip, she wants nothing more than to run to Ben and bury her head in his chest.

“Rey, drop your lightsaber.”

Ben takes a step towards her, their eyes locked on each other. “Rey,” his voice is like stone.

 The padawan’s fingers betray her and she switches the blade off. Ben smirks and he closes the distance between them, taking both her hands in his, it’s becoming his signature move. The feeling of her skin under his gloves just about knocks the air out of his lungs. She’s real in front of him. For a moment Rey is terrified that she truly did dream everything that has happened between them.

 Ben angles himself over her so that she can feel his breath against her face, the sensation makes her knees weak. “Rey,” he says her name again, this time it’s a soft plead.

 “End the blockade,” her stare passes through him at first, she is firm and strong in what she knows she must do. Ben doesn’t so much as shift away from her. “I said, call off the blockade,” Rey repeats.

“I can’t do that.”

“Then leave.”

A small smile tugs at the corners of Ben’s lips, “you don’t want me to do that.”

 Rey shakes her head, “my friends are dying and you think I want to be locked in a room with you?”

 Kylo Ren steps back into place, the padawan can sense frustration working its way through his body, disappointment even, obvious to her. She wants to look into his mind, seeing what he really wants, why he’s here. A part of her wants him to look her in the eyes and tell her that he is here for her, to stay. He’s here for his mother, he’s tired of being a slave to the First Order, he needs to escape the hate his life has birthed. She wants him to look at her in eyes and say that he’s staying.

 Before the Knight can answer, the ship rocks. “I swear if we must go through this one more time,” Ren curses, leaving the empty threat without an end. A loud explosion is heard.

“Maybe you should call off the attack so we both don’t go down,” Rey hisses, Ren shrugs.

 Rey’s breaths become louder as he goes quiet, both won’t look away. The ground begins to shake again and Rey’s balance is lost. She curses when his arm intercept her from hitting the ground, he almost falls as well. When their eyes meet again, he is Ben through and through, as if Kylo Ren has never existed.

 “I can’t call off the attack,” he says, remorseful. Rey digs deeper into his stare, challenging him. She’s making him choose between his personal desires and the First Order’s victory. “If you come with me,” she can almost see the gears in his mind begin to turn, “we will leave your friends alone.”

 The padawan feels the offer like a blow to her chest. Faintly, she can hear Finn and Poe struggling, the entire Resistance is in more danger than they know. “You’ll drop the blockade?”

 Ren’s eyes slightly light up at the idea of her considering it, “we will drop the blockade and I’ll call off the attack.”

  Rey's eyes turn to daggers for a moment, her veins freeze to ice amidst her anger. The knight is almost overwhelmed at how frustrated she is, their connection flooded with her choice words for him in the moment. But, Finn and Poe are out there. General Organa is out there. They're counting on her. Master Luke is going to kill her for this one.

“Okay,” she breathes fire, “I’ll go.”

 Kylo Ren presses a kiss against the corner of her mouth as he swipes his hand above her head, stealing her consciousness from her. Rey tries to avoid the gesture once she realizes what he is doing, but soon the world goes black. Ben Solo disappears under a black helmet. “Call off the attack,” Ren raises his comlink, “we have something more important.” Her knees buckle and he holds her bridal style, almost letting out a chuckle at how much has changed since the last time they’ve been in this position.

He always knew he would hold her like this again, perhaps one day, it’ll be happier occasion.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's not his prisoner, he promises. An apprentice, an eventual knight of Ren, and yet still something more. Rey won't go gentle into that goodnight.

 She jolts, the spacecraft roars. Rey’s been sitting on the same bench for the last few hours, her hands restrained in front of her stomach. Every so often, her head begins to nod towards the cold, metallic wall behind her. She hasn’t seen a bed in little over a day. The scavenger also becomes aware of the hoarse dryness of her throat, her captors haven’t provided her anything to drink or eat either; they simply left her here alone. He left her alone. 

 His mask was the first thing she saw upon waking up, Rey will always hate the lack of his face, she can’t read him while he bears his metal teeth. The padawan recalls him lingering over her, setting her upon this metal bench, watching her for just moment as if he wanted to say something to her. He leaves abruptly after that. That was at least several hours ago, she assumes. Rey now sits alone, basking in the darkness of space and the quiet of loneliness. 

 Another hour ticks by and the young woman wonders if it’s possible for her mind to go raw with too many thoughts. Still no signs of Kylo Ren. 

 On the other side of their transport, Ren wakes in a cold sweat. A nightmare, the scavenger was screaming, dying. He held his grandfather's blade, his mother saw the honesty in his eyes. His father- his father was alive. It takes the knight several minutes before he can completely compose himself. Power surges through his fists as he recalls the images, him running to try and find her, screams igniting his panic, her limp body. His uncle holding her, looking to him with disappointment. His mother crying. Snoke’s laughter. Snoke’s face. A cracked mask covering half of the knight's pale face. 

_ She’s here _ , he reminds himself and because of this, Ben’s surprised he barely slept at all. The knight tosses his robe lazily over his shoulders and presses his mask up to his face. Kylo Ren will not be tempted lightly. 

 Rey is on her back now. There are exactly nine light fixtures in the room and thirty-nine panels on the ceiling. She considers sleep. Suddenly the door to her cell, at least it feels like a cell, opens and her shadow steps in. Without even moving her eyes to him, Rey knows who it is; she can sense his confliction and angst from where she lies. 

“You’re awake,” his voice modulator makes her want to cringe. 

 The sight of her makes his stomach almost drop. Ren is overcome with yearning for her, to feel her skin, her real skin, with his real hands. He wants to look into her eyes and see the sand and the moon of a far off place. But she’s now his prisoner and forever his enemy. He frowns, blind to her.

 “Did you keep your end of our bargain?” she doesn’t take her eyes off the ceiling above her. He’s almost offended.

“Your friends were spared, for now,” his voice is bland and he can't help the irritation that drips alongside it. 

 Rey barely needs their force connection to feel the emotions rolling off of him. He’s so frustrated at himself and at her. Desire and nostalgia pool at his heart. He wants this meeting to be like the ones they’ve had in the past, she almost laughs at this. “I’m hungry,” the padawan states firmly, it’s not a plea, it’s a command. 

 The knight doesn’t say anything, simply turns on his heels and exits as quick as he entered. She didn’t so much as spare him a glance once. 

 When he returns half an hour later, she’s hanging upside down, her feet pressing against the wall. A tray of different sorts of proteins and mush is tossed towards her. The sound of his mask hitting the floor leaves an echo so loud it causes her gaze to shift towards him. 

 “Alright,” Rey sighs as she sits up properly and traces her fingers along the food he’s supplied her with. Ren knows it’s the closest thing to a notion of gratitude that he’ll get.

 It's suddenly very obvious to Kylo that the young woman in front of him has no manners when eating whatsoever. She piles different textures into her mouth all at once, chewing with her lips open. Ren has to stop from groaning in disgust and turning away, he does have admit though that it is impressive how fast she eats with her restraints still on. 

“Must you consume everything so primitively?” he hisses. 

 “Is it bothering you?” Rey looks straight at him as she takes another mouthful. They continue to glare at one another until a spice added to her meat kicks in and she winces. “What is that?” the padawan almost spits. 

 Ben has to resist the smirk that is tugging at his lips, “It’s an herb added to test the endurance of the Knights of Ren and a punishment for those who are not strong enough.”

 “So naturally you just had to add it onto my tray,” Rey rolls her eyes and downs the bite. She won't let him win. Ren raises and eyebrow as she picks up the food again and chews it. “I've eaten worse on Jakku,” she shrugs, as if her mouth is not on fire and her face is not about to twitch from the bitter and yet sour flavor. 

“Shocking,” Kylo Ren’s voice is biting at her skin. 

 Rey doesn't reply, simply content to eat in silence. The knight is not known for starting conversations, nor does he want to start now, the air becomes thick with tension, she feels it too and inwardly sighs. 

 Finally Rey has her fill of what she’s been given, sliding the tray harshly across the floor to the wall he stands against. The padawan stands from her place on the floor and positions herself back onto the bench behind her. “Where are you taking me to?” she tries to reach his eyes. 

“My master, the supreme leader, has requested to see you,” Ben sighs and sits down across from her on a chair probably meant for interrogations. 

“You don't just sit for anyone,” Rey mockingly jabs at him, referring to their previous meeting. 

 Kylo stares through her, showing no recognition at her words. “Unfortunately, the supreme leader requests that we condition you before you are to stand before him,” the voice is cold in its robotic monotone. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” the padawan picks at the dirt underneath her fingernails. 

“Have you seen the rags you have deemed as clothes? Or the way that you hold yourself?” 

Rey rolls her eyes, “we don't exactly have queenly robes on Jakku."

“First you need to bathe,” Ren states, “you will be given new materials to dress yourself in. When we land, I'll show you to your quarters.”

The girl blinks and furrows her brow, “you're not confining me to a cell?”

 Ben hesitates, as if he’s thinking through his own plan again, “no,” he says simply, “you are not my prisoner.”

 She knows the answer, but her lips have already formed the question, “then what am I?”

“My apprentice.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You won't,” Ren quickly snaps, as if he’s been stuck in a trance, he never looks back as he briskly exits the room. 

 Rey pulls her legs up, ducking her head against her knees and tries to remember as much of her master’s training as she can.  

 They land on a planet far in the outer rim, her instincts tell her. Ren comes to collect her, her arms still restrained against her stomach. “Where are we?” she demands an answer. 

“The First Order’s recovery base,” she shoots him a quizzical look and so he follows up with, “the backup plan if Starkiller base failed.”

Rey smirks as if to taunt him. 

 Kylo leads her thought corridors, stormtroopers passing around the pair. The two soon are stopped by a tall, ginger man who gives a look of disgust at the knight and padawan. 

 “Ren, is this not the girl the supreme leader has _ordered_ you to bring to him?” he sneers and takes her in. 

 “I don't recall having to report to you, General,” Kylo growls. 

 The general says nothing, simply eyeing the small brunette girl standing in front of him. Kylo notices the man’s jaw shift and his eyes flicker to her lips for a brief moment, he is still human after all.

 Something in Kylo burns at the thought of Rey crossing Hux’s mind and the apprentice considers throwing the man against the wall twenty feet away. ‘ _ She’s mine,’  _ the knight communicates through his eyes. Rey takes a small step back, her shoulder tucking behind Kylo’s long body. 

 Feelings of possessiveness now course through the Knight of Ren and he takes pleasure at the thought of Rey standing behind him for protection. Though she definitely doesn't need someone to protect her, he admits. 

 “Is the supreme leader aware that the girl is here?” Hux returns his glare back to Ren. 

 “He requested it, _ personally _ ” Kylo Ren hisses before grabbing onto Rey’s elbow and pulling her away from the conversation. 

 “Careful, Ren,” Hux calls out to the man as they disappear from sight. 

 Kylo directs Rey to an unending hallway. They all look the same. She hates it here. There's a small room that branches away from the other doors that Kylo explains lead to other officer’s quarters. The small door belongs to her, he adds. 

 “Of course, guards will be stationed in front, to at least slow you down,” he tells her, “I'm less than a few seconds away and will be able to sense when you try to escape.”

“You're so certain I will?”

The knight doesn't move from where he stands, “you thought it out on our way here.”

“Don't look into my head,” Rey grits out.

Kylo almost rolls his eyes at her ignorance, “I didn't need to.” Rey bites her lip and looks away as he turns to enter a security code into the keypad. The door slides open.

Rey almost gasps at the sight of a real bed. 

 “This is where Snoke confined me to before I earned enough of his trust,” Kylo looks around the room, almost cringing at the memories that are sewed into this place. This was his first home away from a Skywalker related residence. 

 “Snoke?” Rey walks into her new room, barely paying attention to the man behind her. 

 Kylo Ren follows her “the supreme leader, my master.”

 A pang of fear crosses against Rey’s heart at the sudden connection. She closes her eyes to steady herself. 

 “You are now my apprentice, Rey,” the sound of her name twisted by the mask on his face makes her skin crawl. She doesn't turn to face him as he suggests she rest and then exits. 

 When the padawan is sure the shadow is gone, she throws herself onto the bed and is unconscious minutes later. 

She dreams of the sand at first, the sun, her skin is dry. A hot breeze hits her face and she coughs out grains of dust. His voice is ringing her ears,  _ “... _ _ you will be my apprentice and eventually even a Knight of Ren, my equal, my counterpart, my lo-” _

 Rey whips around to find him, but she is met only with sea dunes and the roar of an oncoming storm. 

_ “My love,” _ he whispers, yet is invisible to her dreaming eyes. The scavenger reaches for her lightsaber, cursing when she ignites the weapon and a red blade staggers out. Rey inspects the weapon, turning the saber over in her hand, it’s heavier than her blue one. 

_  “ _ _...that is when the seed of darkness was planted in my mind and left to grow,”  _ Luke’s warning tone splits her subconscious. She feels the need to reach out her free hand and as soon as she does, another blade flies to her hand. It’s red too. 

 Rey spins with both blades extended, the feeling of two blades is comfortable. She moves fluidly yet still housing the rough and messy style of her early training. 

She looks to the sky and sees the setting of two suns. This isn’t Jakku at all. 

 Rey turns around again, this time she sees Finn. She yells and runs to him, dropping the sabers and clutching him in an embrace as if her life depends on it. He’s stone cold. He’s not Finn, he’s FN-2187. Blood stains the bright white armor he wears, crimson smears and handprints trail up his arms, legs, and torso. The Resistance symbol is drawn in dark red on his helmet. ‘ _ Poe,’  _ somethings nags at her. She knows what was happened. 

 The padawan stumbles backwards and falls, the sand suddenly piling on top of her in massive heaps. She can’t breathe. 

_ “These are the first steps…”  _  a man’s voice echos with the wind. Rey’s sure she has heard that voice before. She recognizes it beyond just within a memory, something in her stomach drops at the thought. 

 Rey wakes up gasping for breath. Sweat falls down her brow and her sheets are twisted around her body, she can’t escape. The padawan’s heartbeat is pounding in her ears and no matter how she maneuvers herself, she is trapped. She can’t scream and fear now has paralyzed her body. 

 The girl is so drowned out in her fear that she can’t hear Kylo Ren pounding at the door to get it open as fast as he can. He sprints into her quarters, mask discarded. It’s Ben. 

 Large hands are suddenly ripping the sheets away from her freezing body, Rey inhales sharply as the sudden restraints are lifted and now she can’t tell the difference between the sweat and tears racing down her cheeks. 

 Ben gives her space to breathe, she takes a moment before getting enough air in her lungs to be full. Rey’s tears go from silent to audible whimpers as she finds a steady pattern of inhales and exhales. Ben reaches above her arm, as if asking for permission, he finds it in her eyes when she turns to him. The man pulls her against his chest, awkwardly, his long arms fall to her elbows. He’s not quite sure what to do, trying his best to mirror what his mother did for him all those years ago. A lifetime ago. 

 The knight raises his thumb to her forehead, gently touching briefly on the shallow parts of her mind to try and figure out what has prompted her to be in such state. She is in no state to explain.

Pain, fear, grief, confusion. She’s at war. 

“Get out of my head,” Rey chokes out, “get out.” 

 Ben murmurs a few things she can’t hear over the sound of her pounding head. Rey soon comes to the realization that her rough skin is pressed against his scarred flesh. His chest is bare and his hair disheveled. He's come straight from his own bed. Dark bags drag at the tender skin underneath his eyes, his pupils are shot and full of an emotion she can’t name. Her head leans slightly into the warmth his chest promises to her, she's too tired for this. For resistance. 

“Rey, what did you see?” Ben strokes her cheek with his thumb. Still fumbling on the inside, cool and collected on the outside. 

“Promise me you’ll stay out of my head,” Rey ignores his question entirely, turning around with her eyes locked on his as she begins to calm down.  Ben pulls his hands away from her, he opens his mouth as if to defend himself but can’t find the words.  “If you want me to work alongside you, I’m warning you now,” her words are firm now, “stay out of my head.” 

 Ben nods slowly, “okay,” he agrees. She flickers her gaze away from him, the nightmare plays again in her mind. “Rey, tell me what happened, I felt a disturbance within you,” Rey pulls her arms around her body. 

His breath hitches in his throat when he notices her hair is down and pooling around her waist. 

 “I was on a sand planet, but it wasn’t Jakku, there were two suns setting. I was holding my lightsaber but it was red,” Kylo releases a small noise of interest at this, she ignores him. “I felt something telling me to open my hand and when I did, another lightsaber flew into my hand, like in the forest” she squints at the ground, trying to remember details.

“Did you open it?” Ben asks. 

 Rey nods, almost embarrassed at the answer, “it was a sith blade too. I looked up and saw Finn,” Ren mumbles his serial number under his breath, “he was in his stormtrooper armor and it was covered in blood,” she pauses, barely able to admit the next part, “Poe’s blood.” 

Fresh tears begin to run down the scavenger’s tan face as she recalls the images, “and then,” she chokes out, “you.” 

 Ben’s attention is pulled back entirely to her, searching for face for meaning. “What did I do?” he breathes.  Her lips are a map and he knows where they lead. Ironic, he notes. 

 Rey shakes her head, her mouth shut. Her eyelashes catch a droplet before it can stream down her cheek. He gets the message.

 The man runs a hand through his hair and stands, pacing in front of her bed. “You had a vision,” Ren states, “an insight into the future.” The knight mutters something about the force that Rey can’t entirely make out. He’s moving too fast.

 “Ben,” Rey calls out sternly and his moving suddenly ceases. She has his everything, the sound of his old name on her lips soothes something deep within his soul. “Stop,” she commands. 

His eyes are soft and he understands. The door closes behind him as he leaves hesitantly. 

 Rey spends the next several hours in meditation. Perhaps if she connects herself enough with the force, she can reach Luke. Clouds still fog her vision, images of Finn’s armor, Poe’s blood, the twin setting suns, the voice of a man she knows like the back of her hand. The red lightsabers, a mark of a sith. Rey cursed in frustration. 

 When Kylo Ren, mask and all, comes to collect her for a morning meal, they do not speak of the events that have transpired. And Rey tries not to dwell on the memory of his voice in her head beckoning to her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading :)) pls leave a kudos and a comment!


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